By Chris Brown

Update from the PM

Draft legislation will help Canadians with disabilities, workers: Trudeau

Jun 9, 2020 | 10:58 AM

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau touted draft legislation Tuesday that has been shared with the opposition that will help Canadians in a variety of ways as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

“This legislation will aim to provide direct support to people with disabilities, support more workers through the wage subside and ensure that people who aren’t able to make certain judicial deadlines, such as bankruptcy, aren’t unfairly punished aims to provide direct support,” said Trudeau.

He added the government will be taking a close look at the applications for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit.

“We will also strive to make CERB payments more flexible while making sure that those that knowingly and wrongfully claim the CERB face consequences.”

Trudeau said the benefit was put in place with the speed with which it would reach Canadians top of mind. He said that’s why there wasn’t a tremendous amount of complicated checks and background checks and verifications in place. He said the government is not looking to punish Canadians who made an honest mistake.

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“Unfortunately in every situation, there are a few criminals who will deliberately try to take advantage of a moment of solidarity, a moment where we’re in crisis and trying to help each other out by deliberately defrauding the system,” he said. “As I said from the very beginning, we will make sure that we are punishing people who try to take advantage of this situation and we’ve put measures in place that will allow us to go after the deliberate fraudsters who are trying to game the system for criminal benefit.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party won’t support the bill.

The CERB provides $2,000 per month to help those who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 8.4 million Canadians have applied for the CERB, receiving a total of $44.6 billion.

At his daily address outside Rideau Cottage, the prime minister said that interest in the federal wage subsidy is picking up.

“Over the past few as businesses get ready to reopen, more employers are using the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy to rehire employees,” he said. “Shops, local entrepreneurs and business owners are the backbone of our economy. They make our towns and cities better places to call home and collectively they are the largest employer in the country.”

The wage subsidy covers up to 75 per cent of an employees’ wages for up to six months, to a maximum of $847 per week.

And Trudeau reminded Canadians of a hotline service to help entrepreneurs and small business owners navigate the uncertain times. Canadians can connect with a business advisor at 1-866-989-1080.

Trudeau also announced deals with two Canadian companies for personal protective equipment.

Quebec-based Joseph Ribkoff will supply 1.2 million medical gowns, which are expected for delivery in July. The Ontario-based Stevens Company will supply 15 million show covers and five million disinfectant wipes.

This equipment is in addition to one million face shields, seven million pairs of gloves currently on their way to the provinces, Trudeau said.

On Saturday, a ship carrying 160,000 litres of hand sanitizer arrived in Vancouver and seven more ships are expected, Trudeau said.

Trudeau also spoke of a PPE supply website that has been launched and “a new innovative procurement streams to allow more businesses to allow solutions and products Canadians need because of this pandemic.”

He said the government will soon be selecting prototypes for testing that came from April call for Canadian, made-in-Canada prototypes that will help current and future outbreaks of COVID-19 and similar public health emergencies. The government received 550 proposals in just two weeks and innovators will soon start working with the government to scale up production.

As of Tuesday morning, Canada had 96,244 confirmed cases and 7,835 deaths. There have been 54,833 recovered in Canada and 1,930,141 Canadians tested.

As of the Saturday update, in Alberta, there are 7,202 cases and 149 deaths. A total of 268,663 Albertans have been tested. There are 355 active cases in Alberta.